September 25, 2008

Chris Brogan's Brand U.0 Is "Helpful"

I first heard about Chris Brogan over a year ago. Since then—he's become a textbook example of how a single person can build a HUGE audience of literally thousands of people who TRUST him and look to Chris for what's next and why. If you are interested in building your own personal brand—listen carefully to what Chris has to say and start with the basics. Be "helpful".DA: Do you believe that people can actually act like brands? Why or why not?CB: I believe they can, but boy is that water
choppy. Brands are things, and they involve a connection to a visual or
audio queue (when we hear the Intel bong, or when we see the Nike
swoosh). People who attempt to brand themselves by simply using visual
or audio queues run the risk of coming off as fake or contrived. And
yet, there are ways that I believe people can engage in the practices
AROUND branding in such a way as to derive value and meaning in a
genuine fashion.

DA: You have literally thousands of people following you on a variety of
social networks—what was the first step you took to build such a strong
following?

CB: Be
helpful. It's what I spend the most time in my networks doing. Find
resources for other people. Find things people can take action on in
their own lives that will change how they do business. Simply, be
helpful. Oh, and it doesn't hurt to be humble, loving, and to embrace
people as the most important part of the equation.

DA: How has building a personal brand helped your career? Have their been any downsides?

CB: There are plenty of people out there in
this space, such as it were, talking about the same things. This isn't
that different than the fact there are hundreds of thousands of
software engineers, bazillions of lawyers, tons of doctors, etc. By
building a personal brand, it's given me an opportunity to be a "known
entity" in a sea of people selling the same things.

There are downsides for the companies who choose to partner with a
personal brand. I call this the "Age of the Half-Owned Brand," I talked
about it http://www.chrisbrogan.com/threading-some-trends-together" What this means is that companies who choose to raise up a brand, or
hire one, are sharing equity with someone who may or may not be around
several months down the line. Coke never worries whether Sprite is
going to walk away after an investment.

DA: How about your personal life—can you share any pros and cons?

I'm
very fortunate to be able to travel a lot and meet amazing people. I
enjoy speaking in front of audiences, and then spending a lot more time
getting to know the people of the organizations where I do my stuff.
The benefit is that I can share what I know, get really specific with
the people present, and then build relationships that we can both call
on (in either direction) later.

The drawback is that I'm a dad, and I have a wife and two lovely young kids and all this travel can really grind one down.

DA: What's the one piece of advice you would give to someone looking to create their own "Brand U.0"?

CB: Be
a brand, not a logo. Don't go for flash and weird tag lines. Instead,
go for being something that people recognize. Starbucks isn't that
green logo. It's quality coffee (very strong coffee, too) and the whole
"third place" setting. That's what you're buying. The logo just points
out where it is.

DA: Do you think "all of this" is a bubble or something more?

CB: I think this is a gentle bubble that surrounds a new way to communicate. This is email 20 years later.

DA: You come across as very likable. How important is this to who you are?

It's
everything to who I am. I believe that by being likable, I'm also very
employable. Strangely, we like doing business with people who we like.
I'm never fake about it, but I do work at being someone the community
can embrace. There is no "Chris Brogan" without being a guy that pretty
much no one can talk smack about.

DA: In terms of a personal brand—who is your hero? Why?

CB: Specifically in terms of personal branding, my hero is
Jeff Pulver. I feel that he has consistently shown who he is, what he
stands for, and does so in a style that stands out in the environs
where he operates. For over a decade, Jeff has stood for disruptive
technologies, especially in the Internet space, starting with his
co-founding of Vonage, and his successful VON conferences. From the
specifics of branding, Jeff has "Pulver purple," a color with a
distinctive Pantone number, and he's known for wearing Hawaiian shirts,
even into important board meetings. I learned a lot from Jeff and
continue to execute with him in mind when I think about community
experiences.

DA: If you were to sum up the brand of Brogan in what word—what would that be?

CB:Helpful.

DA: Tell us one thing about Chris Brogan that we might not already know.CB: You might not know that I went to the
Breadloaf Young Writer's conference in Vermont instead of attending my
prom, and that my girlfriend and I square danced in blue jeans while
everyone back at school waltzed in tuxes and satin. Nerd much? Yeah!

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The logo/brand distinction is crucial and I love how simple it is for Chris to define his brand in one word. Those who have turned to Chis like myself for guidance as they work to establish a toehold can attest that his brand and the values that fuel it are not smoke and mirrors. His body of work and the seminars he leads have been the most helpful resource I've discovered. Really looking forward to his New Marketing Summit in Foxboro, MA next month, and connecting with more like minded folks...

"Helpful" is a perfect word for Chris, although I'd add the modifier, "intelligently," as in "intelligently helpful."

If Chris had a tagline it would indeed be, "Chris Brogan: How Can I Help?" But it's not like he's simply some guy reaching for the canned goods off of the top shelf for you, although I'm sure he would do that, too. Rather, he's the guy helping you identify which products you need off of the shelf to begin with, and then nudging them toward you, and sometimes putting them in your cart, too. (Is this metaphor working...?)

; )

Great interview, DA. (And truly a gift: One of my favorite people interviewing another of my favorite people!)

Your first question, David, 'Do you believe that people can actually act like brands?' struck me as people are the ultimate, and earliest, brands. Think about how complexly developed is our recognition of faces, tone of voice, and cues from other people's behaviour on our actions. Think about the earliest coins and other artifacts 'branded' with human imagery. People are the ultimate brands, but as Chris says some are just more attuned to how to develop and derive value and meaning from their brand - for you, others, or causes.

What Chris is doing particularly effectively, is helping people to interpret this skill in the social media age.

I think that a lot of Chris' personal branding works because it resonates as authentic. And the great thing about being "helpful" is it's user-defined, i.e. customized by each audience with whom Chris interacts.

In considering my own personal brand, I've found it useful to look at 3 things: accomplishments (past), personal and work life (present) and goals (future). After looking at those, themes emerge. Then you boil those down to a few guiding words.

Being aware of my themes has been useful not just for developing my personal brand, but in decision-making.